Jewish American Heritage Month

Posted By admin on January 2, 2022

The Buddhist scholar Dadul Namgyal stressed the importance of letting go of habits of self-obsession and attitudes of self-importance. Moulie Vidas, a scholar of Judaism, placed more emphasis upon Judaisms intellectual and spiritual energy. Karen Teel, a Roman Catholic, emphasized her interest in working toward making our world more just. The Jainism scholar Pankaj Jain underscored that it is on this side of the veil of death that one attempts to completely purify the soul through absolute nonviolence. Brook Ziporyn, a scholar of Taoism, stressed the importance of embracing this life as constant change, being able to let go, of allowing, as he says, every new situation to deliver to us its own new form as a new good. Leor Halevi, an historian of Islam, told me that an imam would stress the importance of paying debts, giving to charity and prayer. And Jacob Kehinde Olupona, a scholar of the Yoruba religion, explained that humans are enjoined to do well in life so that when death eventually comes, one can be remembered for ones good deeds. The atheist philosopher Todd May placed importance on seeking to live our lives along two paths simultaneously both looking forward and living fully in the present.

The sheer variety of these religious insights raised the possibility that there are no absolute answers the questions are too complex and that life, as William Shakespeares Macbeth says, is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing. Yet there is so much to learn, paradoxically, about what is unknowable.

Perhaps we should think of death in terms of the parable of the The Blind Men and the Elephant. Just as the blind men who come to know the elephant by touching only certain parts of it, our views of death, religious or not, are limited, marked by context, culture, explicit and implicit metaphysical sensibilities, values and vocabularies. The elephant evades full description. But with death, there doesnt seem to be anything to touch. There is just the fact that we die.

Yet as human beings we yearn to make sense of that about which we may not be able to capture in full. In this case, perhaps each religious worldview touches something or is touched by something beyond the grave, something which is beyond our descriptive limits.

Perhaps, for me, it is just too hard to let go, and so I refuse to accept that there is nothing after death. This attachment, which can function as a form of refusal, is familiar to all of us. The recent passing of my dear friend bell hooks painfully demonstrates this. Why would I want to let go of our wonderful and caring relationship, and our stimulating and witty conversations? Im reminded, though, that my fathers last words regarding the meaning of death being too complex leaves me facing a beautiful question mark.

My father was also a lover of Kahlil Gibrans The Prophet. He would quote sections from it verbatim. I wasnt there when my father stopped breathing, but I wish that I could have spoken these lines by Gibran as he left us: And what is it to cease breathing, but to free the breath from its restless tides, that it may rise and expand and seek God unencumbered?

In this past year of profound loss and grief, it is hard to find comfort. No matter how many philosophers or theologians seek the answers, the meaning of death remains a mystery. And yet silence in the face of this mystery is not an option for me, as it wasnt for my father, perhaps because we know that, while we may find solace in our rituals, it is also in the seeking that we must persist.

The interviews from the series discussed in this essay can be read here.

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Opinion | Death Is for the Living: Lessons From Religious Scholars - The New York Times

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Posted By admin on January 2, 2022

Chapter One

Donald H. Harrison

SAN DIEGO This is a series about Jewish life along the Interstate 5, which begins at the Mexican border and continues all the way to the Canadian border. We will be concerned with just the San Diego County segment of this highway, a 72-mile stretch between Baja California, Mexico, and the Orange County line.

There is a Jewish story everywhere, as we aim to prove by exiting at each of the neighborhood offramps (as opposed to those which are junctions with other freeways) and seeing what history, institutions, and residents have to tell us about the Jews whose presence or influence have been felt there.

Before we embark on this American journey, let us not forget that there is Jewish life in Tijuana, Baja California, Mexico, that is well worth remembering. In brief, we can find it at the Centro Social Israelita, the Congregaion Hebraica de Baja California, and in the Jewish-owned department stores and shops along Avenida de la Revoluion.

If you were walking along the street and you passed the Centro Social Israelita, you would not be able to distinguish it as a Jewish gathering place not unless you came closer, and even closer still, and found a small mezuzah on the doorpost. Once you are admitted inside, however, it is a very different story. You are first confronted by a display featuring the sculpted heads of two liberators. One of those liberators is Benito Juarez, who resumed office as Mexicos president in 1867 after the French-installed government of Emperor Maximilian was vanquished. The other is Moshe Rabenuthe biblical Moses, our teacherwho led the Israelites from slavery in Egypt to freedom in the Promised Land.

Deeper inside the complex is a small synagogue with beautiful stained-glass window. Its spiritual leaders are members of the Lubavitcher Chasidic movement. In the past, a Conservative cantor led services. The community does not fuss over such distinctions: A Jew is a Jew.

When Chabad accepted the pulpit at the Centro Social Israelita, it was something of an anomaly within the Lubavitcher movement, which, like many Orthodox organizations, teaches modesty in dress, and no physical contact with members of the opposite gender who are not family members.

Yet, the Centro Social Israelita began in the 1950s as a Jewish Community Center. It continues to serve that function with a swimming pool and tennis courts outside, cardrooms and kosher dining facilities inside. Swimming requires swim suits and if a rabbi and rebbitzin wish to see only modestly dressed men and women, they must shield their eyes, look down at the ground, and walk quickly by. Similarly, they must discreetly avoid the tennis courts, where apparel seems to get shorter and shorter.

Although the Centro Social Israelita does not like to draw the attention of passers-by because antisemitism is a problem in Mexico as it is elsewhere it nevertheless is an active participant in various good causes. One longstanding effort has been a cross border effort in which doctors from Mercy Hospital in San Diego come down to the Centro to screen applicants for cleft palate surgeries. Those who are selected are transported across the border to Mercy Hospital, and following the surgery, recuperate at a Roman Catholic center in San Diego. Volunteers from many different religious communities serve food to the recuperating patients, and U.S. Marines provide security in what has become known as Operation Mercy.

*Congregaion Hebraica de Baja California offers a very different view of Jewish life in Mexico. Its founder, Carlos Salas Diaz, was brought up as a Roman Catholic, but as a restless young man, studied for Protestant ordination. Subsequently, he converted to Judaism at what was then the University of Judaism, but which is now known as American Jewish University, in Los Angeles. With an independent income from the jewelry business, Salas Diaz decided to finance his own congregation, throwing its doors wide open to anyone who wanted to learn about the Bible. With a shortage of priests in Tijuana, the idea of learning about religion directly from a spiritual leader was appealing to many Mexican residents. Some of them became enamored with the Jewish religion (which before they little understood) and asked to be converted.

After preparing his congregants to meet a beth din and to undergo ritual immersion in a mikvah, Salas Diaz arranged for them to undergo similar conversion ceremonies in Los Angeles as had marked his own transition to Judaism. Whereas the Centro Social Israelita is quite discreet about its Jewish identity, Salas Diaz very publicly advertises. He installed a giant menorah along the outer walls of the congregation.

Initially, Salas Diazs enthusiasm for teaching about Judaism, and the subsequent decision by his students to formally convert, created some uneasiness among the more traditional Jews at the Centro Social Israelita. One member of the more traditional congregation famously growled, Theyre turning out Jews like tortillas! However, as Salas-Diaz and his congregants explained their motivations, tensions eased. Almost all the families who came to Salas-Diaz felt some previous connection with Judaism. Our grandmother never told us why, but she would always light candles on Friday nights, some would tell Salas-Diaz. Or, Our house was always cleaned thoroughly on Friday mornings, and when the family gathered, mother would serve us on the best dishes. These apparent references to Shabbat preparations indicate that these families may be descended from Conversos, Jews who were forced to convert to Catholicism under the Spanish Inquisition (which spread to Spanish colonies like Mexico).

While the two Jewish congregations are geographically and culturally distinct, they have joined together on occasion in celebration of Israeli holidays.

*Major department stores like Dorians and Sara were started by Jews, and other Jewish business people have been active in civic affairs. There also has been a Jewish member of the Tijuana City Council, David Saul Guakil. Businessman Jose Pepe Galicot heads the civic improvement organization known as Tijuana Innovadora, which promotes arts and culture in the border city.

If you were walking across the International Bridge from Tijuana to San Diego, instead of driving, you would note that it is lined with international flags of many countries. As a sign of friendship, the flag of Israel is right smack in the middle of the bridge.

Crossing by car into the United States is an exercise in patience. Sometimes, cars move quickly through the many inspection stations. Other times, they can be backed up several or more hours.

While you inch up in your car to the inspection station, Mexican vendors will walk alongside your car showing their wares. These may include toys, paintings on velvet, papier mach sculptures, costume jewelry, clothing with the latest imprints upon them just about any souvenir item that you might otherwise buy in town. It is considered a rule never to accept the first price that is suggested by the vendorhe would be very surprised, and grateful indeed, if you did. Instead, you are expected to bargain with the vendor, in a nice way, of course, and ultimately come to agree on a price that was about 60 percent of the original asking price.

As your car gets closer to the border, youll sense a bit of desperation on the vendors part to conclude the dealhowever pleasant your negotiations may have been. He is forbidden to cross into the United States, so it is before that point that he must decide whether to take or leave your best offer. My suggestion is to be kind. What may be a relatively little difference in money for you may have far greater impact on his life, so much stronger is the American dollar than the Mexican peso.

Once you reach the inspection station, you will be asked by U.S. Border Enforcement Agents to show your passport and to reveal what kind of Mexican goods you might be bringing into the United States, and how much you paid for them. Currently U.S. citizens can bring in up to $800 worth of merchandise without having to pay a duty. There are limits, however, on the amount of liquor and tobacco products you may bring into the country.

Usually crossing the border is a routine affair, but it is possible you might be randomly selected for a secondary inspection, which involves pulling up to a stall inside the United States, popping open your trunk, and permitting the agents to look inside the trunk and the interior of your car. So long as you are not trying to smuggle drugs or other contraband, you have nothing to worry about.

Once you clear inspection, you will soon approach the beginnings of the Interstate 5 and Interstate 805 freeways. I-5 and I-805 both go north, but I-805 serves more inland areas of the City of San Diego, while the I-5 stays closer to the coast. The two freeways will merge at the northern extension of the City of San Diego, near its border with the City of Del Mar.

*NEXT SUNDAY, Jan. 9, 2022: Exit 1B (Via de San Ysidro): Jewish Brothers Became Shopping-Mall Magnates

*Donald H. Harrison is editor emeritus of San Diego Jewish World. He may be contacted via donald.harrison@sdjewishworld.com

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Schlepping and Schmoozing along the Interstate 5: Tijuana in the Rear View Mirror - San Diego Jewish World

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Posted By admin on January 2, 2022

It was the mother of Ghislaine Maxwell who first introduced me to the subject of supersessionism. I got to know Betty Maxwell, whose face has become a familiar one on the front pages of this weeks newspapers following the conviction of her daughter in New York for sex offences, when she invited me to help her in organising a conference to analyse the Nazi Holocaust. I visited her at the Maxwell West London home several times, an address since made notorious. I was some sort of press relations adviser, though the proper PR work was subcontracted.

More importantly to her, I was a Catholic who was sympathetic to her cause, but still an outsider to the international community of academics specialising in Holocaust studies and the related more general field of anti-Semitism.

They formed the bulk of the committee she set up to advise her, including top names in the subject such as David Cesarani and Yehuda Bauer. She needed an ally disconnected from these academics, and I fitted the bill. It became a more personal friendship and we remained in touch after her conferencing days were over. (She organised two of them). She was for instance still very interested in the Protocols of the Elders of Zion, the most damaging fraud in history, and the Dreyfus Affair, a scandal still not quite laid to rest. She had a PhD, and was nobodys fool. Nobody outside her family, at least.

She was from a proud Huguenot background, though her mother was brought up a Catholic. Elisabeth spent time at an English convent school, which explained her perfect grasp of English. From her I learnt that the French Huguenots had a remarkable yet largely unsung record in protecting Jews during the Nazi occupation. Huguenot villages heroically sheltered Jewish families and orphaned Jewish children, at great risk to themselves. There were French Catholic families who did likewise, but the fundamental difference between the two cases was that the French Church at that time was steeped in anti-Semitism, whereas these French Protestants were not.

A French Catholic who defied the Nazis was struggling against their particular religious and cultural tide; a Huguenot was swimming with it. It is worth noting that the French Catholic bishops later recorded their shock and shame at their Churchs failure to stand up against the rounding up and deporting a substantial part of the Jewish population, the great majority of whom were murdered. The major centre for this operation was at Drancy, a name almost an infamous as Auschwitz.

This was only part of Bettys fascination with the Holocaust. She married a British army officer, Robert, who was himself Jewish and one of very few survivors of a large family network of Jews from Eastern Europe. She researched his family tree and found evidence of at least 300 Holocaust victims to whom he was related.

I have learnt, though not from her, that her relationship with her husband was toxic: he was an autocrat and a bully, perhaps even a psychopath. It seems clear that Elisabeth had no part in or had any knowledge of the crimes that were his later downfall he siphoned hundreds of millions of pounds out of the Daily Mirror pension fund for his own benefit. But I do suspect that some Maxwell money went into her Holocaust projects, though none in my direction. We carefully avoided all such sensitive subjects. Even though she knew I was a Fleet Street journalist, she trusted me enough.

For me it was an amazing introduction into the field of Holocaust studies, of which up to then I knew no more than the next man. The subject itself was on the edge of a transformation, as official archives across Eastern Europe became accessible to Western scholars following the collapse of the Soviet empire. The search was on for the so-called smoking gun a piece of evidence that tied Adolf Hitler explicitly and in person to the initiation of this fiendish campaign of genocide. But as Betty herself pointed out, all the evidence needed was already there in the pages ofMein Kampf.But the world of Holocaust scholarship was still alert to the need to refute the Holocaust deniers again and again by every scrap of evidence that could be found.

Elisabeth Maxwells interest was partly theological. She understood that anti-Semitism was firmly planted in the Christian tradition on the basis of a number of Biblical texts. All Jews living and dead were held to be partly responsible for the death of Jesus, hence the charge of deicide, or god-killing.

But it went deeper than that, touching on Christian self-understanding both of themselves and of the place of the Jews in the divine scheme of things. At first she was drawn to various Protestant theologians and their views on this matter, but she quickly became disillusioned. It seemed to her, she told me, that modern day Protestant scholars were so uncommitted to anything in particular that getting them to repudiate the theological basis of anti-Semitism cost them nothing. Catholic theologians, on the other hand, were subject to a rigorously logical intellectual discipline, and the challenge they faced was a serious one. She respected it.

The watershed in Catholic thinking about the Jews came in 1965, with the promulgation of the decreeNostra Aetateby the Second Vatican Council. It made clear that one of the historical roots of the Holocaust was the tradition of religious anti-Semitism known as supersessionism: that the Jewish Covenant had been cancelled by the appearance of a new one sealed in the blood of Christ. Hence Judaism was nothing but a false religion and the duty of the Catholic Church was to convert them to the real one. Indeed, because of their failure to acknowledge Christ they had been repudiated by God, and deserved nothing but contempt. It is not hard to see how Nazi anti-Jewish ideology found fertile soil in Christian Germany. And if Catholicism was at fault by fostering supersessionism, that is nothing to the vitriolic hatred Martin Luther had for the Jews.

All this was refuted and made anathema byNostra Aetate, which quoted St Pauls word in his letter to the Romans to say that God does not withdraw the promises he has made. What happened in His passion, saidNostra Aetate, cannot be charged against all the Jews, without distinction, then alive, nor against the Jews of today. Although the Church is the new people of God, the Jews should not be presented as rejected or accursed by God, as if this followed from the Holy Scriptures

Furthermore, in her rejection of every persecution against any one, the Church, mindful of the patrimony she shares with the Jews and moved not by political reasons but by the Gospel's spiritual love, decries hatred, persecutions, displays of anti-Semitism, directed against Jews at any time and by anyone.

Unfortunately the ghost of pre-Vatican II supersessionism has still not fully been laid, and there are still glimpses of it in the Catholic liturgy. It is present in many prophecies and proverbs relating to the People of God in the cycle of Scriptural readings, especially the first reading from the Hebrew Bible (even the term Old Testament has supersessionist resonances). It is taken for granted that the terms People of God or Israel can be taken as no longer referring to the Jewish religion and people, but exclusively as metaphors for the Catholic Church. They implicitly treat Judaism as superseded. I do not suppose there is one parish priest in a hundred who has ever explained this to his congregation.

But the notion of two Peoples of God side by side, both offering salvation but in different ways, is a very hard one for Catholic theology indeed Catholic identity as a whole to digest. On the other hand if the idea that the Christian religion has cancelled Judaism is one of the causes of antiSemitism, asNostra Aetateimplies, then this is a serious matter. It could mean the infection of anti-Semitism has not been entirely eliminated from Christian theology, and might still one day burst forth.

That was what worried Elisabeth Maxwell. Her disgraced husband and daughter not withstanding, she deserves to be remembered for it. If there was ever to be another Holocaust conference in the future, I would press for this to be made the central issue partly in her honour.

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Betty Maxwell's contribution to the field of Holocaust studies - The Tablet

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Posted By admin on January 1, 2022

Sunday, December 26, 2021

Many of the Torah commentaries point out that unlike our forefathers, Moshe, in this week's opening verses to the Parsha, did not accept that God's promises of redemption for the Jewish people had not yet been fulfilled. In God's response to this, we sense a veiled criticism of our great teacher and leader Moshe. Heaven responded to Moshe by saying that he enjoyed a higher and different relationship to the Revelation from God than those original founders of the Jewish people. Because of this state of elevated Revelation, Moshe's complaint was unnecessary. Moshe should have realized that Heaven has its own timetable, and that its promises will always be fulfilled, but not necessarily...

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Nothing human is ever permanent. Perhaps the only exception to this rule is human nature itself, which, seemingly, has never changed from the days of the Garden of Eden until today. So, we should not be surprised by the narrative of the Torah in this week's portion. The Jewish people have been in Egypt for centuries. They have lived off the fat of the Land in Goshen. They were highly respected, apparently affluent, and thought themselves to be secure in their land of exile. The memory of their leader Joseph, who was the savior of Egypt, still lingered in their minds, and also in the minds of the general Egyptian public. But Joseph was gone already for centuries, and as the Jewish...

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Jewish History Lectures : Rabbi Wein : Jewish Destiny

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Posted By admin on January 1, 2022

WAYNE, N.J. (CBSNewYork) A North Jersey rabbi who stood shoulder-to-shoulder with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. throughout the Civil Rights Movement is praying to see the year 2022.

The 92-year-old, known as the most arrested rabbi, recently learned he has stage four colon cancer. In what he believes are his final days, he spoke with CBS2s Lisa Rozner.

He may be too weak to stand, but the spirit of Rabbi Israel Dresner is strong. His Wayne, New Jersey, home is surrounded with memories of King.

Ive always been very optimistic. I try to follow Dr. Kings course. He always felt that were making progress and we have to continue to make progress, Dresner said. Dr. King appeared in my pulpit in Springfield, January in 1963 for the first time.

King visited Dresners synagogue twice.

The friendship started in 1962 when Dresner visited King in an Albany, Georgia, jail cell. Months later, King, who called the rabbi Sy, wrote, We are counting on you to discern some methods of action which contribute to our national problem in race relations.

Dresner had already been arrested as part of the Tallahassee Ten, interfaith freedom riders who challenged segregated buses and sat together at a segregated airport restaurant.

In 1964, he was arrested again, organizing the largest mass arrest of rabbis in history outside a segregated hotel in St. Augustine, Florida.

Were you afraid when you showed up there? Rozner asked.

Well, I always had some fear Every person has an obligation to try to make a contribution to making the world a little better place, Dresner said.

The following year, Dresner delivered the prayer on Turnaround Tuesday in Selma, Alabama, at Kings behest. It was one of several marches for voting rights.

Dr. Ralph David Abernathy, best friend and mentor of King, prayed to his right.

Abernathys daughter, Donzaleigh Abernathy, remembers Dresner speaking at her church.

Honestly, I believe that he is one of the unsung heroes of the Civil Rights Movement, she said. It ended up helping to shape my life so that now I live today in an Orthodox Jewish community But I feel at home because this was the world that we grew up in.

Bishop Mitchell Taylor, of Queens, reflects on how Dresners presence shaped social justice movements today.

One voice can speak, but it can easily be ignored, but when united voices speak, it can never be ignored, he said.

Dresners daughter and son are producing The Rabbi and the Reverend, a documentary they call a mile marker on the never-ending march towards equality.

We want to use the film to help re-forge the Black-Jewish alliance that he was such a critical part of You know, were blessed to be able to, you know, to do this for him and do it with him while, while we still can, Dresners son, Avi Dresner, said.

Rabbi Dresner says throughout the pandemic, hes been able to draw strength from services that have been broadcast on television.

Those services were from Central Synagogue in Midtown East, so he made one last in-person Torah blessing there in December. His children also took him for a final pastrami sandwich at Katzs Deli and one last Broadway show.

How do you want to be remembered? Rozner asked.

Well, I want to be remembered as somebody who not only tried to keep the Jewish faith But also to invoke the Jewish doctrine from the Talmud, which is called tikkun olam, repairing the world, and I hope that I made a little bit of a contribution to making the world a little better place, Dresner said.

Dresner says his family was murdered in the Holocaust, which made him painfully aware of what racism could lead to and inspired his activism. Hes a lifelong member of the NAACP and former president Barack Obama honored him at the White House in 2013.

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Most Arrested Rabbi Israel Dresner Reflects On Life Of Activism After Being Diagnosed With Stage 4 Colon Cancer - CBS New York

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Posted By admin on January 1, 2022

General reflections

I grew up in an era when there were NO women rabbis. I decided that I wanted to be a rabbi at the age of 11, in 1967. That would have been the year that Sally was entering rabbinical school.I was ordained in 1981, 40 years ago.Women rabbis were a novelty at that time. Our male colleagues were jealous at all the attention we received.

I wondered when the time would comethat women would simply be rabbis, and notwomen rabbis. I wonder if we are there, yet?

Once I was reading a book to a group of preschool children and the protagonist was a female rabbi. I was about to share with them how cool it was that there was a female rabbi, and I stopped myself.They had never known anything but a female rabbi. Why would I call to their attention that this was unique or remarkable?

Often students would come back from a family bar/bat mitzvah and express surprise that the rabbi was male!

Challenges and blessings

I believe that in most cases women are accepted equally with men.In the non-Orthodox world, it is normative for individuals of any gender to serve the Jewish people. When I came to Arizona in 1987, I was the first female rabbi in the state.I often heard, I didnt know that women could be rabbis.I rarely hear that now. When the women rabbis in Phoenix meet now, there might be a dozen of us at the table!

At one time it was easier for women to be hired as an associate rabbi or as an education director. It was newsworthy when Laura Geller became a senior rabbi and Linda Holtzman was hired by a Conservative congregation.Fifty years later, these events are no longer noteworthy.

Certainly for women, the blessings have been an appreciation of womens life cycle moments. Fifty years ago there were no communal baby naming ceremonies for the birth of girls, no ceremonies for menarche, menopause or miscarriage. Rosh Chodesh celebrations were not regular events.

Women have crafted liturgy that men and women alike find meaningful, and womens commentaries on Jewish texts have deeply enhanced our perspective on the tradition.

As women have entered the rabbinate, they have expanded their leadership roles in other communal areas.

Being a parent and a rabbi

The challenge was when I was raising children, if a male rabbi spent time with his children and family, it was considered to be a wonderful role model.If I spent time with my family, questions were raised as to whether women could be wives, mothers and rabbis.

My childrenare grown, yet they will still tell youtheir memory of growing up.Whatever we did,first we have to stop at the hospital. (To visit someone). The challenge of sharing your parent with the community is not unique to women. Every rabbis child grows up knowing that at any moment, plans will change, andsomeone elses needs will take precedence over theirs. Rabbinic work takes place on evenings and weekends, so families sacrifice much for their clergy parents.

Family support

My parents strongly discouraged me. They knew the challenges of being a rabbi and hoped to spare me.

That said, I have had the honor of serving the Jewish people as a rabbi for 40+ years.It has been extraordinarily meaningful and I still find it incredibly rewarding.My parents ultimately came around and have great nachas in my work. It has been a humble blessing.

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Rabbi Bonnie' Koppell: Reflections on 50th anniversary of women in the rabbinate - Jewish News of Greater Phoenix

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Posted By admin on January 1, 2022

We cannot let manipulators and extremists continue their self-serving battle at the expense of the majority.

Tom Krattenmaker| Opinion contributor

Congressmen team up to listen amid heightened political polarization

Reps. Dean Phillips (D-MN) and Dusty Johnson (R-SD) team up amid heighten political polarization to listen and problem solve with their constituents.

Jessica Koscielniak, USA TODAY

Depressed by the mutual contempt in which the two Americas hold one another? By the gloom hanging over what is supposed to be a season of light?

I certainly am. But I am lifted by the story of Rabbi Rachel Schmelkin and evangelical pastor Tom Breeden and the work theyve been doing together since the infamous "Unite the Right" rally violated their city of Charlottesville, Virginia, in August 2017.

Rather than running for the shelter of like-minded liberals as she was tempted to do, Schmelkin has thrown herself into the work of reducing identity-based violence and hate. She has found a ready partner in Breedenwho, contrary to oversimplified notions about evangelicals, shares her commitment to restoring decency to public life.

Cute story, we might think, but not widely applicable. We would be wrong. Despite what the division-mongers tell us (because their strategies depend on it) research shows that Americans are not hopelessly divided. Given a few more incentives and a larger share of the spotlight, what we share could upstage what separates us.

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Schmelkin was new in her rabbinate atCongregation Beth Israel when white nationalists rampaged through the city with torches and vile chants like Jews will not replace us.As she recently told Religion News Service, The Unite the Right rally was the most terrifying experience of my entire life. I had never seen extremism like that up close, and I never feared for my safety as a Jewish person. It changed me.

When theOne America Movementinvited her to join a clergy group that included evangelical pastors, Schmelkin initially balked. Now shes glad she assented.

Im not going to sit down with someone who wants to harm me. But there are people with whom I can sit down, even though I might feel uncomfortable, she said.

When Breeden was invited to join the group, he, too, was reluctant.Ina profile on the One America website, Breeden said:At first I was a little suspicious. Most of the clergy groups that I had experienced were not a great use of time, but Im so glad I gave this one a shot!

Breeden who, like Schmelkin, now works for the One America Movement elaborated in an email exchange with me: Ive seen the effects of toxic polarization up close. Its tearing apart communities, and churches arent exempt from the damage. Ive also personally experienced the possibility of the alternative. Im motivated to do this work because Ive seen first-hand that it can be done, and I want other people to have hope in a better future than our divisions threaten.

Nice thought, you might say. But surely, those extremists on the other side have to be stopped before they destroy our communities and country.

Its true the zealots are out there, and you see them portrayed daily on Fox News, MSNBCand the like. But data showthey are not representative of the people and ideas on the other side of the divide, whichever side youre on.

Polling by the group More in Commonfinds that on many of the issues that divide Democrats and Republicans, people have a grossly distorted idea of what the other side believes.

For instance, Republicans in the study estimate that fewer than half of Democrats disagree that "most police are bad people." In truth, 85%of Dems reject that sweeping condemnation of police.

On immigration, Democrats estimate that only about half of Republicans agree that properly controlled immigration is good for America. The reality: More than 75%of Republicans hold that positive view of orderly immigration.

Overall, the research finds, there is a massive gap between our perception of extreme views in the other party and theactualprevalence of such views.It would be tragic beyond measure if the country gave up on our noble experiment in democracy and fell into some kind of civil war based on each sides misunderstanding of what it is up against.

Not to be nave. There are real differences between liberal and conservative America, and our ways of responding to those differences are not equally loathsome. Only one party is pushing lies about the validity of the 2020 presidential election and enacting legislation that threatens fair voting.

But its also true that regardless of the ground we occupy, we all carry around false ideas about the everyday people on the other side, and our own public citizenship is based, in large part, on those false notions.

Given the tremendous force propelling conflict and division the degree to which all the incentives and algorithms seem to favor toxic polarization havent we reached the point where resistance is futile? Where its too late to stop the runaway train?

Not yet. But to slow it down and steer it away from the cliff, everyday citizens willhave to jump off and use our combined weight to turn our public life in a better direction.

We cannot let the manipulators and extremists on both sides continue their self-serving battle at the expense of, and against the wishes of, the non-extremists who constitute the majority.

That starts with all of us correcting our understanding of who our supposed enemies are and discovering that they are, on the whole,notour enemies. We can do that only by getting to know each other better.

Tom Krattenmaker,amember of USA TODAYs Board of Contributors, writes on religion and values in public life and directs communications at Yale Divinity School. He is the author of Confessions of a Secular Jesus Follower. Follow him on Twitter:@krattenmaker

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How a rabbi and an evangelical pastor are fighting white supremacy together - USA TODAY

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Posted By admin on January 1, 2022

Around two weeks ago, the Heavens blessed us with our first grandchild. Our grandson surprised his parents by coming seven weeks early. Thank God, he is strong and getting stronger by the day. He remains in the NICU at Shaare Zedek Medical Center in Jerusalem, until such time that the medical staff deems him healthy enough to go to his new home.

I spent this Shabbat in my yeshivah with our gap-year yeshivah students. Staying in yeshivah enabled me to spend the morning in the hospital, only 20 minutes away. I walked through the light rain to the hospital just as the rays of the sun were beginning to pierce the early morning clouds and rain. The quickest way into the hospital is through the covered parking lot. The entrance granted me the chance to lower my hood and escape the rain, exposing my ears to the sounds around me. I quickly slipped past the red-eyed people in the parking lot, hearing them crying or speaking on their phones. One can only imagine the terrible news they received about loved ones who passed away during the night.

Leaving the Shabbat-mode elevator on the eighth floor, I met a few fellow travelers on their way to the synagogue. The space was already filled with those who arrived for the sunrise service. With the others attending the 7 a.m. minyan, we went outside until the first service could finish reading Torah. At that point, we could switch sides like an elaborate religious baseball game.

Inside the crowded shul, we prayed. And what prayers they were.

I have lived in Israel for almost 30 years and, in the time, had wonderous prayer experiences. I have worshiped at sunrise on Masada in the shadow of the last-ditch defense against the Roman legions during the Great Revolt. I have recited penitential prayers in front of the Western Wall with tens of thousands during the period of the Jewish High Holidays. Looking out at the Old City of Jerusalem, I have sat on the ground on the Haas Promenade, crying in lament with hundreds of others. I have rejoiced with throngs reciting the Hallel prayers on Israel Independence Day and prayed with thousands who stayed up all night both on Shavuot and Yom Yerushalayim. But nothing was as holy for me as praying in that crowded room in the hospital.

Every type of traditional Jew was present. Chasidim and Misnagdim, Zionists who stood for the prayer for the State of Israel while many more looked sheepishly around while remaining seated. Knitted Kippot, shtreimels and every other type of head covering were present. All were praying together. All were hoping together and, in a way, embracing one another.

During the Torah service, a baby naming for a newborn girl or prayer for the newborn boy followed each aliyah. As the Torah service concluded, others lined up bearing the name of a loved one for the leader to include in the prayer for the sick. Each name represents someone fighting for their life. The air filled with tears. One could feel the prayers cutting through the clouds reaching upwards prayers of joy, of fear, and of sadness. Holy prayers shook the heavens. One can almost imagine the angles stitching the various words together into a giant quilt to bring before the Holy One blessed be He. Here, O Lord, are the hopes and fears and heartbreak of your people. Take them with care. Be enrobed in the glory of their holy words.

As we finished, a lavish kiddush with hot Yerushalmi kugel was waiting. The person handing out the steaming hot pieces declared that someone donated the meal in the name of an ill person. May the patient merit a speedy recovery with the blessings uttered over the cakes and pastries that filled separate tables for men and women, as is the custom of some Orthodox Jews.

When grandparents visiting hours arrived in the NICU, I held my grandson, who quietly slept on my lap under a warm blanket. I thought of the words of Victor Hugo as I gazed into his tiny, premature face, To love another person is to see the face of God.

In the halls of that hospital and that small synagogue and the faces of the hospital staff and patients Jew and Arab, Chasid and secular, Zionist and non, I could feel the presence of the Almighty.

Two of the Middle Ages greatest sages debated the origin of the obligation to pray. For Maimonides, the Torah commands daily worship. Like the Tamid sacrifices of old offered twice each day, the Jew must offer worship as a sacrifice to God. A generation later, Nahmanides argued that God demands prayer only when the Jew needs it most, at times of great sorrow or perhaps emotional difficulty. Rabbi Joseph Dov Soloveitchik suggested that at times the two combine. During the daily prayer service, when the Jew finds him or herself in times of suffering and travail, both sages would say, we fulfill the Torah command to pray. In Shaare Zedek hospital, during the Shabbat morning service, it was clear both interpretations of the obligation applied.

As my grandson and I rocked for the two hours of allowed visitation, I prayed His peoples prayers should also move God above. The halls of that hospital felt as holy as standing on the Temple Mount.

May God grant a speedy recovery to the sick, comfort the mourners, and rejoice in the hopes and dreams of the new parents.

Rabbi Todd Berman is the associate director at Yeshivat Eretz HaTzvi. In addition, he has held numerous posts in education from the high school level through adult education. He founded the Jewish Learning Initiative (JLI) at Brandeis University and served as rabbinic advisor to the Orthodox community there for several years. This essay first appeared in the Times of Israel.

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Essay: Praying in a Holy Place Detroit Jewish News - The Jewish News

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Posted By admin on January 1, 2022

A Jordanian broadcaster on Monday rejected accusations of publishing anti-Semitic content that led a German broadcaster to suspend a decade-long cooperation agreement.

Amman-based Roya TV said in a statement that it regrets the declared decision of international German broadcaster Deutsche Welle to suspend the partnership. It added the Arab media group was the target of a hostile campaign from parties it did not name.

On Sunday, Deutsche Welle said anti-Israeli and anti-Semitic content and caricatures distributed by the popular Jordanian channels social media platforms were definitely not consistent with the values of DW, forcing the German company to re-evaluate the cooperation.

We are truly sorry that we did not notice these disgusting images, said Guido Baumhauer, a senior executive with Deutsche Welle.

In Mondays statement, Fares Sayegh, Royas chief executive, stressed that the criticism of illegal, inhumane or racist actions by Israel as a state should be differentiated from anti-Semitism.

The German public broadcasters partnership arrangements involve Deutsche Welle supplying journalistic content. Sayegh said his channel had a successful professional relationship with Deutsche Welle.

Israel and Jordan made peace in 1994 and have close security ties, but the agreement is unpopular among Jordanians. Moreover, diplomatic relations have been strained in recent years over tensions at the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in Jerusalem, and Israels expansion of Jewish settlements in the West Bank.

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Jordanian TV rejects German stations anti-Semitism accusation

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Posted By admin on January 1, 2022

Anti-Semitism and hatred of the Jews in Poland is thriving despite the country having a Jewish population of only a few thousand.

This growing hatred has culminated last week when far-right nationalist and anti-Semitic groups converged in the city of Kalisz for a mass rally marking Polish independence.

Kalisz is known for a historic charter known as the Statute of Kalisz, issued by Boleslaus the Pious in 1264, granting Jews protection and equal rights.

During the rally, the anti-Semitic protesters tore up that charter in their exhibition of hate.

One after the other, Nazi-like speeches were made by hysterical speakers who accused Poland's ruling nationalist Law and Justice Party, of being the Jewish interest faction, warning that the Jews are taking over the country and demanding their expulsion.

"We will not be the slaves of LGBTQ and the Zionists," they said as the crowd chanted "death to Jews."

All the while police forces stood by listening and doing nothing. Municipal officials were also unresponsive during the four-hour event.

Only after videos appeared on social media platforms, causing outrage in the media, did they claim that the death chants were protected by freedom of speech.

Two demonstrators were eventually fined the equivalent of NIS120 ($39) and just one woman stood in protest of the rally carrying an anti-fascism sign.

Although the event drew condemnation from many in Poland, Law and Order Party founder Jarosaw Kaczyski said nothing. Polish President Andrzej Duda posted a condemnation on Twitter - three days later.

Many party supporters share the views of the demonstrators in that rally and the government's lax enforcement of laws against anti-Semitism, as well as the forgiving attitude of the Polish courts toward such offenses, has allowed anti-Jewish sentiments to thrive.

Daily papers spout anti-Semitic propaganda on a regular basis and similar rallies to the one in Kalisz take place all the time, just away from the media's eyes.

The hatred of Jews in Poland is thriving, despite Holocaust survivors having fled its borders post-1945, and its current minuscule Jewish population.

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Poland is the land of anti-Semitism

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